Stablecoins in 2025 — Beyond Tether

How regulated, yield-bearing, and regional digital currencies are redefining the way money moves on-chain

Over the past decade, stablecoins have become the invisible foundation of the digital-asset economy. They enable traders to hedge volatility, businesses to settle globally, and individuals to move money freely across borders. For most of this period, Tether’s USDT dominated both volume and mindshare — a de-facto on-chain dollar that powered the rise of centralized and decentralized finance alike.

But the market of 2025 looks different. A wave of regulated, yield-bearing, and regionally anchored stablecoins is challenging the idea that stability must equal uniformity. Rather than one universal token, we’re seeing a complex ecosystem of digital currencies — each designed for specific regulatory, financial, or geographic contexts.

This shift signals not decline for Tether but maturation for the entire sector: a movement from speculative liquidity to institutional-grade infrastructure. 

1. Why new stablecoins are emerging

The expansion of the stablecoin landscape is driven by three converging forces — regulation, infrastructure demand, and regional diversification.

1.1 Regulation and transparency

In 2025, stablecoins have entered the policy mainstream. New legislation in the U.S., EU, and Asia formalizes reserve management, redemption rights, and disclosure standards. This regulatory clarity invites banks and fintech companies to issue fully backed tokens with legal certainty.

Examples include:

The message is simple: stability now comes with transparency and accountability.

1.2 Payments infrastructure upgrade

Traditional cross-border payments remain slow and fragmented. Stablecoins fill the gap, offering programmable settlement that runs 24/7. For fintechs and merchants, using stablecoins means fewer intermediaries and instant reconciliation.

As McKinsey noted:

“The ability to settle payments globally in a fast, secure, and cost-effective way is being transformed by tokenised cash using blockchain technology.”

This is why new stablecoins are increasingly designed around payments, not trading.

1.3 Regional and purpose-driven design

Different economies need different anchors. Emerging markets experiment with BRZ (Brazilian real) or TRYB (Turkish lira) to protect local commerce from currency volatility. Meanwhile, Western issuers test yield-bearing or treasury-backed stablecoins for corporate liquidity management.

The result: a mosaic of stable assets reflecting real-world diversity rather than a single digital dollar.

2. The new architecture of stable value

2.1 Consumer and BigTech entrants

PayPal’s PYUSD proved that stablecoins can scale beyond crypto-native users. It connects millions of consumers to blockchain rails without requiring crypto literacy. This marks a cultural shift: Web2 platforms integrating Web3 money.

2.2 The rise of EURC and regional currencies

Circle’s EURC has become the euro’s digital twin — live on Base, Solana, Polygon, and Noble. For European fintechs, it’s the missing piece between SEPA and DeFi: instant, regulated euro liquidity on-chain.

Similarly, StraitsX SGD and BRZ have turned stablecoins into localized payment rails, bridging national economies with global liquidity pools.

2.3 Treasury-backed and yield-bearing coins

A new sub-sector blends stability with income. Tokens like USDY (Ondo Finance), USDM (Mountain Protocol), and bTokens (Backed Finance) represent shares of tokenized U.S. Treasuries, distributing 4–5 % yield directly on-chain. For DAOs and Web3 companies, they function as programmable money-market funds, replacing idle stable holdings with yield-generating ones.

2.4 Institutional and bank-issued stablecoins

Traditional finance is no longer watching from the sidelines. Banks such as J.P. Morgan (JPM Coin) and ANZ Bank are piloting internal settlement tokens for instant inter-branch transfers and cross-border payments. These institutional stablecoins signal a future where tokenized cash coexists with fiat deposits, blurring the line between crypto and traditional finance.

3. What this means for the market

Stablecoins now form a multi-layered ecosystem:

For users, this means choice and resilience. For businesses, it introduces a new strategic question: which stablecoin aligns with compliance, liquidity, and counterparty risk profiles?

And for USDT, it means evolution. Tether remains the most liquid asset in emerging markets — yet its dominance is contextualized within a broader architecture of specialized competitors.

4. Risks and systemic questions

Academic research notes that stablecoin issuers collectively hold hundreds of billions in U.S. Treasuries — a concentration that could, paradoxically, link DeFi shocks to traditional markets.

5. Looking ahead: 2025 → 2026

The next 12 months will test whether these new models can sustain scale: